PRO WRESTLING: TNA Knockout Brooke Adams in ‘The Amazing Race’ on CBS

TNA Impact Wrestling Knockout Brooke Adams has every reason to be proud.

After all, she and fellow professional grappler Robbie E finished the first half of the 25th season of “The Amazing Race,” a grueling reality show taking competitors across the world to complete challenges.

Avoiding elimination, the couple is now one step closer to the million dollar prize. Every Friday on CBS viewers are left on the edge of their seat watching the drama unfold.

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“You have to imagine being Rob or myself in our shoes,” Adams said. “That’s why I tend to seem frustrated a lot of the time. You have no idea what it’s like showing up at the bottom and not knowing what is going on. You never know what is ahead of you.”

Adams feels the hour-long show only gives the audience a small taste of what the participants go through.

“You don’t really see the time lapse,” she said. “We don’t know where a lot of the teams are, or if they completed the task, or what’s going on unless you come down the road and run into them. You don’t see a lot of the troubles we are having. Whether it’s getting lost or trying to get directions. You see a lot of the frustrations. It’s not the fun-loving Brooke side a lot of times.”

Adams says initially a lot of the other competitors were scared of #TheWrestlers.

“You’re thinking, ‘This is a strong team,’” she said. “Then they realize, ‘Oh, Wow! These two, bless their hearts.’ A lot of times we are like, ‘What is going on?’ Then we figure it out as we go along. One thing is you find out during the race is the muscles, endurance and things like that are not even the biggest part of the race. It’s about being strategic and luck and doing everything in a timely manner. It really doesn’t have to do with being privy to traveling all the time and being strong. That stuff helps, but at the end of the day luck will kick your butt.”

Before the race the duo tried to prepare by watching past seasons. In the end, it didn’t do them much good.

“There is no situation that is going to be the same,” she said. “There is no factor that is going to be the same, and you have no idea how you are going to handle the situation. When I went in I thought, ‘Okay, cool. I won’t freak out.’ It’s impossible. It’s completely impossible when you are standing there in another country where you don’t know the language. You don’t know where you are going. You are driving on the wrong side of the road.

“Everything is complete chaos. It’s hot. You aren’t used to the food. You aren’t getting adequate sleep. Everything just goes out the window. You can try to mentally prepare yourself, but it’s impossible. It just doesn’t happen. These challenges may not seem difficult, but you aren’t seeing the challenge completely and seeing how hard it can be. You’re missing tiny little details. You’re rushed. You’re hot. You’re racing for a million dollars….”

The overall trek includes four continents, eight countries and 20 cities across 26,000 miles. Clues and host Phil Keoghan guide them along the way. With what aired, Adams recalls building a traditional Viking torch as the hardest task during the third leg in the United Kingdom.

“The guy that was demonstrating it, he wouldn’t respond to anything that you were saying,” she said. “He did it at his pace, so if you miss one detail and have to wait 30 minutes to pick it up and figure out what you missed. Then it was herding the sheep. They only showed a small clip of us and it may look easy, but I can tell you that it was not. It was like herding kittens with one going this way and another going that way. We finally got them all in one spot, and when you think you have it, then this little devil child wants to go another way.

“Rob has made it pretty clear he hates animals. So he doesn’t want a whole lot to do with it. He just does not like them. It was not an act. I got a little frustrated there with the milking the goats on another task, but he was doing his best. We were trying to squeeze for dear life to get the milk out. That was kind of challenging too. That took a long time to milk the goats. Then poor Rob, he turned the butter for a good hour-and-a-half, maybe longer.”

Going through the experience has taught Adams a lot about herself and her relationship to the TNA star.

“When you take yourself out of your normal everyday life and are put in another situation that you have never encountered before and try to keep your cool, I do believe if you can survive ‘The Amazing Race,’ you can survive anything,” she said. “It can put tension on us, but as long as you work together and understand that little frustrations are not out of anger, you realize you can use that in everyday life.”

Out of the current crop of teams, Adams looks to #TheDentists and #TheSurfers as the ones to beat. The surfers in particular include Adam Dirks and Bethany Hamilton, known for her surviving a harrowing shark attack that left her with one arm.

“When I saw her, I knew her story was amazing,” Adams said. “I knew she was trooper and a survivor and that she was very strong. I just didn’t know at what level. Bethany, there is not one thing I don’t think she can’t do. She was riding the bike in Denmark with one arm. I was looking forward to more challenges like that one. I thought, ‘This is awesome. We will get her out of here.’ That is not the case. This girl is incredible. She is a super woman…”

Along with TNA co-workers, fans have cheered on the couple every step of the way on their televised journey of a lifetime. Adams appreciates the support.

“It is awesome to see the wrestling world step out a little bit and support us in ‘The Amazing Race,’ Adams said. “I knew they would, but I didn’t know at what level. It’s really exciting to hear everyone talking about it and as excited as we are. Of course, we have the support of Impact Wrestling behind us as well. It’s awesome. I love it. I hope we can do something like this in the future because our wrestling fans like to see us in another light other than a wrestling character dong what we do every week.

“That’s obviously the passion they have for us as entertainers. I think they love to see us outside of that. I think Rob and I have done a really good job of showing who we really are on ‘The Amazing Race.’ I think we are entertaining in a whole new way. I don’t think anyone really knew who Brooke Adams was outside of who I am as a wrestler.”

When her time on the show concludes, the butt-kicking beauty is ready to return to the ring. Adams takes pride in her progression in the ring from WWE dancing diva to an accomplished former TNA knockouts champion.

“I have been gone this past year and can’t wait to prove myself again,” she said. “It was something that I wanted to be was [a wrestler]. I wanted a chance to prove myself. I think I‘ve done that very well. Every time I wake up I think, ‘Wow, I’m a two-time champion. I did that. I know if I wanted to do it again, I could.’ It’s a dream come true.”

The Texan credits veterans Lisa Marie Varon and Bully Ray for helping her along the way in her evolution.

“Working with Lisa taught me so much about just being a worker and who I am as a wrestler,” Adams said. “Not just in the ring, but talking and living that character and being respected by the locker room and presenting myself. She really brought me out of my shell. I can’t lie. I was a little shy, but Lisa is crazy and all over the place. She really took me under her wing and taught me a lot of things.

“Being around Bully Ray, good lord, he is an amazing performer. I remember sitting outside of the ring and listening to him talk thinking, ‘Wow, this is crazy. I wish I could be like that. He really eats, sleeps and breathes Bully Ray. I really learned a lot from him and have a lot of respect for him. I was lucky to have that role. As small it may have seemed to people, to get out of the ring and play the valet for the heavyweight champion, I’ll take that any day.

The driven can’t wait to continue what she started in TNA. Adams has goals to accomplish.

“I hope in January to be on the U.K. tour,” she said. “I’m looking forward to working with Jessicka Havok. I would love to see what I can do in the ring against her. She is quite scary, obviously. I think I have mental prep from Gail Kim and Lisa. I also would love to have a few matches with Taryn Terrell. She is doing great and a good friend of mine, but I would love to see how we would do in the ring together. I think we could put on something amazing together.”

Given her success on “The Amazing Race” with Robbie, Adams can see another TNA duo potentially doing well.

“I think that Christy Hemme would be great because she is great at mapping out things and is very strategic,” she said. “She has patience and is a good leader. Then maybe someone like Ken Anderson. Those two would be awesome. He has a great military background. He is good at a lot of things that have nothing to do with wrestling. He is good at nature and things like that. I feel like he is highly capable of surviving the challenges. He would also be very entertaining.”